Redemption

by Handsome Matt

I’ve been harping on the oil spill quite a bit. And for good reason; for the first time, the raw cost and damage of fossil fuels have come home to roost.

We’re very much an “out of sight, out of mind” culture. It’s easy to ignore something that can’t be seen, and naturally so.

But now it’s in our backyard. This is nothing new for me as an Ohioan; one of our rivers caught fire in the 60s and we have one of the largest landfills in the country. Side note: It’s located outside of Grove City, Oh and is now the highest point in the Buckeye State.

Here’s the thing: The Cuyahoga River fire helped to start the environmental movement which lead to the Clean Air Act and more.

The question that now must be answered is this:

What happens next?

Do we return to business as usual and risk another catastrophe? Or do we seek the reforms, regulations, and changes necessary to keep something like this from happening again?

And lastly, why would we return to volatile gas prices? We’re not getting richer through it, nor are our lives better because of it. So why have we bought into this grand marketing and public relations campaign?

Think about it: Oil companies made billions last year, meaning that we spent billions.

Billions of dollars that could be used to jump start the economy, to pay off debt, to buy a house, feed the hungry, or end poverty perhaps.